


Are you calling me darling?

by dearericbittle (dutchmoxie)



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Adorable Connor, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Crush, Connor Murphy & Zoe Murphy Get Along, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Social Anxiety
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 18:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14338122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dutchmoxie/pseuds/dearericbittle
Summary: If only Evan could tell Cute Barista that his name wasn't actually Aaron.





	Are you calling me darling?

**Author's Note:**

> "you wrote my name down wrong the first time i came here and i didn’t correct you, but you’re really sweet and now i don’t know how to tell you you’ve been calling me by the wrong name for the past month."  
> I read the prompt and couldn't not write it for these boys. It's my first fic in this fandom so my own anxiety is really not enjoying waiting for the response. Come find me on my Tumblr and discuss feels with me (same handle)

**Are you calling me darling?**

The cute barista had his hair in a bun. 

That was not a good sign - if he were having a good day, the girl with the pink streaks in her hair would have braided it for him. He’d seen her do it once or twice, and Cute Barista actually looked calm for half a second while the girl braided his hair. 

He was really pretty when he was calm, even prettier when he smiled. 

Maybe it was because that was so rare - both occasions but especially the smile - that Evan never wanted to ruin his good mood by being his stupid awkward self. But when Cute Barista looked stressed and/or angry (somewhat of a default setting for him, it seemed) he really did not want to say anything that would make his day worse. 

That and his crippling social anxiety were the reasons why he went by Aaron. 

It was his own fault really. He wasn’t good at speaking up, and so when Cute Barista misheard him in the midst of the crowded café, Evan was too busy holding back a panic attack to correct him. 

A normal person would have corrected him the next time. But Cute Barista had remembered him, his order and his fake name, and Evan was once again too terrified to correct him. 

The third time Cute Barista had actually smiled at him. It lasted for maybe half a second, but by then Evan’s brain had pretty much melted (oh wow that guy was Cute and his very weak, bisexual heart couldn’t take it) and so he didn’t correct him. 

The fourth time the cute barista had been in a bad mood, his long hair in a bun and the bags under his eyes worrisomely obvious. He’d remembered Evan’s order, but he’d snapped at the girl in line before Evan, and so he didn’t say anything. 

It had been a month of Evan telling himself that he would tell Cute Barista next time he came in. And it did not look like today was going to improve his success rate. 

“Hi,” he managed to say when Cute Barista noticed him. 

The boy did wear a nametag, but so far it had either been left blank, or filled with random names that obviously weren’t his. He didn’t look like an Alana. Or a Zoe (that was pink streaks girl). 

“The usual?” Cute Barista sounded exhausted. 

“P-please,” he stammered. “Thank you.” 

He liked tea, and while the peppermint tea wasn’t particularly revolutionary here, it was always at the perfect temperature and if Cute Barista was in a good mood, there was extra honey in it. 

Sometimes Evan worried about it being the right honey because the future of the bee species was really important and not enough people considered it and what if his extra honey consumption single-handedly caused all of the bee species to die out? Because he didn’t used to drink a lot of honey in his tea but now that the cute barista just kept making his drinks with a little bit of honey he’d started to like it and he was definitely going to ruin the entire ecosystem. 

“Always so polite, Aaron.”

“A-actually-” he tried so desperately to get the words out. 

For a second he almost thought he would be able to say something, but of course he couldn’t. And of course Cute Barista wasn’t actually leaning in to hear him, that was just wishful thinking. Because Evan was just this awkward blob of a person and why would Cute Barista even care what he had to say? 

“Evan Hansen,” a heavy arm looped around his shoulders. 

_ Fucking Jared.  _

He shrugged off the weight immediately, his skin crawling. His shoulders felt tight, his heart was pounding, and he was just too terrified to see if Cute Barista had noticed the name. 

“Can you just add a latte to that?” Jared completely ignored the actual person who was supposed to make this drink - and the five people behind them, actually waiting their turn. 

“Jared,” his voice cracked like he was still in high school. “That’s j-just rude.” 

As usual, Jared ignored him when it was no longer convenient, and went to wait elsewhere for his stupid latte. That he was expecting Evan to pay for. 

“S-sorry,” Evan couldn’t even look at Cute Barista. “My roommate is k-kind of a d-dick.” 

At least this was a familiar kind of interaction. It almost made getting the words out a little less terrifying - except he was just waiting for Cute Barista to call him on the different name thing. That was going to be bad and there was no way that he could come back here after today. He was going to have to find a new coffee shop where he hadn’t made a fool of himself yet and of course that new coffee shop would be much further away from campus and disturb his careful planning. And what if they called him Aaron there too?  Because he still couldn’t speak up in front of everyone, because just saying his name at all made his hands clammy. 

“Don’t apologize for him,” Cute Barista’s voice had a harsh edge to it. “He’s supposedly an adult who can do that himself.” 

Yeah, Evan was not counting on that. Jared Kleinman had been his roommate since freshman year, and the words “I’m sorry” had left his lips just once in the last three and a half years. And that was over the phone - to his mother. 

Evan hummed softly in response, because what else was he going to say? He still had to pay and he was not sure if he had enough cash with him to pay for Jared’s drink as well and then he’d have to get his card and that was only supposed to be for emergencies. He’d promised his mother and now she was going to worry about him or think that he was wasteful, spending all this money at a coffee shop. 

“So, Evan?” Cute Barista finally called him by his real name. 

It was everything. Evan looked up at him and those ridiculously piercing eyes were basically staring into his soul. It was terrifying and exhilarating and he was obviously going to ruin the moment in five… four… three… two…

“I’m sorry I didn’t correct you all those times before,” the words just started pouring out without him giving them permission to come out. “I just didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable because you misheard me, but that was all my fault anyway because I’m really bad at talking to people and especially strangers because I can’t tell how they’ll react to things and you look like you’re having a bad day and I’m just making it worse by being super weird.” 

He didn’t even get into the whole Jared and paying for his drink situation, but it was already more than embarrassing enough. 

“Connor,” was all Cute Barista said. 

“You, huh, oh,” Evan stammered. “You’re Connor. I’m Evan.” 

Wow Evan, stating the obvious much? 

Connor giving Evan his name was obviously some sign of trust or an olive branch and Evan was already ruining it by being super weird about it. He really did ruin everything. All the time. 

“I know,” Connor was somewhere in between a smirk and a smile. 

“Stop flirting and get back to work, Connor,” pink streaks girl (Zoe?) yelled at him from her station. 

“Love you too, sis,” he flipped her off with a long finger, nail painted with cracked black nail polish. 

Oh! Well, that almost made sense when he thought on it a bit. There were some similarities in their features, and it was enough of an excuse for the typically hands off Connor to let someone so close to him. Of course he’d let his sister braid his hair. 

His hair was probably really soft too - it looked soft from where Evan was standing. Or staring. Mostly staring. 

Well, it appeared that the inconvenient crush on the cute bari- on Connor had not quite gone away even after he’d made a complete fool of himself. 

“Tea’s on the house,” Connor turned back to face him. “Your friend”- the air quotes were audible - “can get his latte when he pays for it. Himself.”

Evan blushed, unable to say anything in return. His brain had pretty much fractured as soon as Connor did not deny that he was flirting with Evan. 

People didn’t flirt with him. People didn’t even really talk to him, but this? Connor, the cutest barista with the eyes and the hair and that smile, was actually flirting with awkward tree boy Evan? It didn’t make sense. It just didn’t. 

So Connor moved on to the next customer while Evan was still processing. He didn’t smile for them, just took their order and wrote the name on the to-go cup. 

“Peppermint tea with honey for Evan?” Pink Streak Zoe called out. 

Of course Evan almost tripped over his own feet as he shuffled towards the pickup station. He wasn’t usually so clumsy, but he could feel people’s eyes on him. Zoe was looking at him too closely, and he could feel other eyes on him as well. 

A quick look over his shoulder told him that Connor was still looking at him even though he was supposed to be focusing on the customer he was interacting with. Evan flushed even more, knowing that he now closely resembled a tomato, at least in color. 

“Yes, hi, thank you,” he stammered when he reached Zoe. 

She smiled at him, handing him a cup with the name Aaron crossed out. In Connor’s handwriting was his real name, while underneath that someone else - he suspected Zoe - had written a phone number. 

“You should call him,” she told Evan. “He likes you.”

So, it was Connor’s phone number? That Zoe was giving out without his consent? That was just terrifying, because Evan didn’t call people. His heart still skipped a beat when his phone rang, and his mother was the only person who ever called him and they always texted before his mother called him. 

For him to actually call Connor would be the worst idea. Connor probably didn’t even want Evan to have his number, because if he had he would have given it to him. Zoe was probably just desperate to set her brother up with someone, and she didn’t understand that Evan was seriously unworthy. 

Connor deserved someone who was actually able to talk to him. 

Evan took his tea and practically ran out the door, hoping to avoid Jared, who was still waiting for a latte that would never come. 

He copied the number into his phone, just in case. 

* * *

There were pathetically few contacts in his phone.

It was just his mom, his father (just in case the past fifteen years of silence weren’t indicative of the future), his roommate, and now Connor. 

He was never going to call Connor, but he’d kept the number, and attempted to compose a text to him about fifteen times in the last three days. Not one option made it past the draft stage. 

_ Hello Connor, this is Evan. From the coffee shop.  _ ~~_ Not Aaron Evan. The boy who’s so pathetic he can’t even talk to you. _ ~~

_ Your sister gave me your number.  _ ~~_ She said you were flirting with me.  _ ~~

~~_ You’re cute.  _ ~~

Every time he got to the part that came after explaining how he got the number, he just made a mess of things. Because really, what could he even say to Cute Barista Connor? He had nothing interesting to say - unless Connor wanted to hear all of the facts he knew about sequoia trees, or hear Evan recite all of the lyrics to Hamilton. He made a mean Angelica. 

Other people’s words were easier - his own were always a mess. 

Evan continued to stare at his phone as he walked home from his morning class. People didn’t disturb him if he was focused on his phone, and maybe this time he could think of a text that wasn’t completely terrible. 

But he wasn’t counting on it. 

When he next looked up, he found himself at the coffee shop he’d been avoiding for the past few days. He had actually walked inside without his brain even registering it. 

“How may I help you?” an overly polite girl with dark braids greeted him from Connor’s spot. 

“H-hi,” he didn’t like new people. “A p-peppermint t-tea please.”

At least one of those words came out without a stutter - and that almost seemed like progress. Which was just another sign of how pathetic he was and always would be. He couldn’t even order a drink without stammering and making a fool of himself, and just when he’d finally managed to say a full sentence to Connor without stuttering. 

Of course that was when he was faced with a stranger - he’d probably messed things up with Connor. Maybe Zoe told him that Evan was supposed to call and when he didn’t Connor just decided that he didn’t want to see Evan again. Because why would he ever want to see Evan in the first place? He wasn’t interesting to look at, and he wasn’t interesting to talk to because he could barely talk. 

“And your name, please?” the customer service smile on the girl’s face was starting to freak him out. 

“Evan,” he managed to say it without his voice breaking. 

The coffee shop was more quiet than usual, perhaps because he didn’t usually come by at this time. Every other time he just went straight back to his room after class and sometimes he ate a granola bar if Jared wasn’t around and he didn’t have to worry about if he was eating weird in front of his roommate. 

“Evan with a V?” the girl obviously had to make sure he wasn’t saying Aaron. 

He was just so bad at this. Maybe he should just stop talking to people all together, and stop buying tea. That was obviously the solution to everything. 

“Did you say Evan?” Zoe came stumbling out of the back room. “You did! Evan, why haven’t you called my brother yet?”

His heart was pounding in his chest. 

This was not supposed to happen. Zoe was not supposed to mention this because she wasn’t even supposed to be here it was just supposed to be Braids Girl and no one else especially not Cute Barista Connor. And now Zoe was here and she was really confrontational and for some reason she actually thought it was a good idea that he got in touch with Connor? 

“Jesus, Zoe,” the cute boy in question was just suddenly there. “I didn’t realize you’d resorted to pimping me out.”

Evan was having a nightmare, that was obviously what was going on. He pinched the skin of his left arm harshly and waited to wake up - but nothing happened. 

“It’s not pimping out if I’m not getting paid,” Zoe rolled her eyes at her brother. 

“I apologize for my sister,” Connor was suddenly talking to Evan. “I think our parents just dropped her on her head a few too many times.” 

But Connor was smiling and clearly this was all some big joke and he never actually wanted Evan to get his number and call him. Right, that made so much more sense than that stupid nagging thought that kept trying to tell Evan that Connor hadn’t denied that he was flirting with him. 

“That’s okay,” Evan tried not to be disappointed. “I promise I’ll delete your number and not text you because clearly you don’t want that and I’m sorry.”

With all the humiliation going on, he still hadn’t been able to pay for his tea. Oh, and he would have to wait until Braids Girl finished making it before he could leave this most awkward situation. So everyone could just have a good laugh at his expense and it would be just like high school, when he didn’t have any friends. 

Not that he had any friends now - Jared had made it very clear that they were just roommates and not actually friends, and he had yet to manage to talk to people outside of classes and group projects (his worst nightmare). So clearly this was already just like high school. His mother would be so disappointed. 

“Zoe is wrong about many things,” Connor’s words stopped him in his tracks, “but for once she’s right about something. I think you’re cute.”

Does not compute. Does not compute - his brain just was not processing those words, at least not correctly because they did not make sense. At all. 

“Me? What? Why?” Evan stammered. 

“Three excellent questions,” Zoe giggled from behind the counter. 

“Shut up, Zoe,” Connor was only slightly amused. “Evan, I’ve been trying to get to know you for about a month now. You wear Hamilton shirts and you’re shy and you carry heavy books about deforestation around. Your smile is really adorable.”

Connor actually had a list of things he thought were cute about Evan? Clearly he’d somehow entered into the Twilight Zone. Did he managed to teleport into some weird alternate universe where people actually wanted to date him? Would he actually be able to have a conversation with Connor in that universe? Because if so, he was absolutely going to stick around and refuse any return to the Prime universe. 

“I’m an Environmental Science major,” he managed to explain. “I know a lot about trees. More than most people care to hear about. I’m not very interesting.” 

Soon Connor would realize that Evan wasn’t worth it. Any second now he was going to get that look on his face that everyone got when he got started about his major, or about trees. Any second now. 

“I’m studying to be an English teacher,” Connor returned, still smiling at Evan as he attempted to level the playing field. “I’m sick of Hemingway, but I will defend  _ Girl, Interrupted  _ until my dying day. I don’t know a lot about trees, but I’d like to hear you talk about them.” 

It was weird, having this conversation in the middle of the coffee shop where anyone could overhear. He felt a lot of eyes on him, and his hands were starting to sweat. 

“Can I have your number?” Connor asked. “I’d like to talk to you without my sister listening to everything I say.” 

Zoe was somewhere in the background, smiling. 

“I’ll text you,” Evan found himself saying, desperate to regain control. 

If Connor got his number, Connor would call. Calling was too much. Evan would text - and it would be perfect. He’d find the perfect words somehow. 

“Even if you just say hi, that would be enough,” a smirk on Connor’s cute face. 

“Oh God bro,” Zoe seemed disappointed. “Of all the Hamilton gold you could go with, you pick that? I’m sorry Evan, I could have sworn he had more game than that.” 

Connor sputtered, trying to defend himself. He gave up rather quickly, shrugging as if his sister’s opinion on this didn’t really matter - he just kept looking at Evan instead, a blush rising on his pale cheeks. 

Evan reached for his phone. 

_ Hi Connor _

He felt like an idiot the second he sent it, but the way Connor lit up when he looked at his own phone made it a little bit better. 

Seconds later, his phone lit up - it was on silent, so the noise or buzzing wouldn’t startle him unnecessarily.

_ Hi Evan _

Evan smiled at his phone screen, and then at Connor, who’d taken down his hair from the bun, trying to hide his grin. 

That was a good sign. This was a good day. 


End file.
